Brad Stevens keeps promise by appearing in Indiana town's parade

Stevens was introduced as the Celtics' head coach on Friday.(Photo: Winslow Townson, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

A day after being introduced as the Celtics' coach, Stevens appeared in Connorsville, Ind.

Stevens rode in the rain in a Mustang convertible in the town's bicentennial parade

Connorsville is the hometown of ex-Butler star Matt Howard

CONNERSVILLE, Ind. – Brad Stevens' attention to detail was almost mythic during six years as Butler's basketball coach. So it was appropriate that he leave no loose ends.

Twenty-four hours after he was introduced as the Boston Celtics' coach, Stevens kept a promise by appearing in Connersville's bicentennial parade Saturday. He remembered beginning his Bulldogs tenure with a trip to the hometown of Matt Howard, and he effectively ended it in Connersville.

"It was the first place I drove when I got the Butler job," said Stevens, who was hired in April 2007. "I think we can all agree that was probably a pretty good decision – the drive here to spend time with the Howards. They are just getting a new college coach at the time, and they treated me like I'd been doing it for 20 years."

The Celtics coach addressed the media, signed autographs and rode – in the rain – with top down in a yellow Mustang convertible along the parade route. Stan Howard, father of Matt, was the one who asked Stevens to participate in the festivities.

Stan Howard said Matt, his son, told him Stevens said: "Your dad has never asked me to do anything, so the least I can do is honor that commitment."

Stevens' appearance "says a lot about him," said Matt Howard, who tried to assure his former coach that it would be OK to skip this event.

Pete Howard, 34, another of Stan's 10 children, couldn't cut wheat on the New Palestine acreage where he farms, so he was able to attend. He wasn't surprised Stevens showed up.

"He's always treated our family really well," Pete said. "It takes a lot for a coach to know all of the players and their families."

Not that Steven's name recognition was universal. One woman said she had never heard of him.

"I know Matt Howard," she said.

Tom Wellman, 37, a Connersville native, drove from Indianapolis for the parade. He said "a lot of things" would be beyond Stevens' control as Celtics coach.

"I would much rather be Frank Vogel than Brad Stevens right now," Wellman said, referring to the Pacers coach.

Stevens would be the first to assert that big things achieved by Butler – including back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011 – would not have happened without Howard, a Top 100 recruit who renewed the Bulldogs' credibility.

Stevens spoke individually to Butler players at an undisclosed campus location Wednesday night. He said they talked, and, by the end of it, laughed together.

The players could grow even closer when they accompany their new coach to Australia on a trip that begins Aug. 1.

"One of the things that these guys realize is that it's about the players," Stevens said. "And this is about the players banding together. They'll have a terrific coach. I've talked to most of the players' families. I did that Wednesday night and Thursday. It was as important to me to end right as to start well."

Stevens conceded he had his own thoughts of who the next coach should be but that what was important is that his successor understand Butler. He said the players are "banded together" and that the head coach is only one part of Butler's program.

"That's the way it has always been," he said. "That's why it will continue to be successful when I'm gone."

David Woods also writes for the Indianapolis Star, a Gannett property.